I don't know what Moo's intentions are, sometimes it seems like he is manipulating people willingly, and sometimes it seems like he is leading this total trainwreck without even realizing it.
For me, it started getting weird during the 2017 Rishikesh season, when the Invitation technique was created. He started repeating himself and saying the same things over and over in every satsang. Somehow, people were getting totally blissed out from the Invitation, so he must've thought that this method was IT, despite all of the people having troubles and coming down from the high worse than before. He just kept sharing the Invitation, and putting the blame of its flaws in "the mind". People were sharing how the Invitation was coming short and Moo kept demonizing the mind. He somehow made people believe that there is a villain inside them that should be fought, and the disaster began. Now, most of satsang was spent talking about this apparent bad guy. I don't know if Mooji knew the consequences and issues that would arise out of this, and if he didn't, that's the proof that supposedly enlightened gurus can fuck up just like us.
Soon, The Invitation became a label and books were published about it. In Monte Sahaja, the team put the Invitation to Freedom video playing repeatedly in a room, so that people could watch it anytime and multiple times a day, indifferent to the unhealthiness of this. Every concern that his followers showed was blamed on the mind and the invitation kept being shared. I remember thinking about how it felt like a cult but dismissing that thought for coming from my "ego-mind". To some people (I was one of them), satsang became a drug. We went to satsang, felt bliss as Moo was speaking and telling his dozens of life stories (and telling us that he didn't want to hear our stories), then went home and crashed. Why? Because the invitation doesn't integrate you into the world and normal life. Moo told us constantly that we should refuse going out with friends and family to, instead, stay inside and listen to the invitation. I don't know what kind of spiritual teacher advises their students to run away from the world. To keep the bliss, you have to keep watching satsang and going to Monte Sahaja. He knows just what to say to make you feel special and spiritual. So we kept going and feeling wonderful, then coming back to the world and feeling disappointed. We were told "You're almost there, just one more satsang!", but it was never just one more. When the bliss of one satsang went away, we had to attend another one to recharge. It was the same experience as being addicted to drugs. I realized something was wrong when I began to notice that I was completely indifferent to the real world. I started to feel annoyed at other people and practices, because "the invitation is so simple and instant, why are people wasting time with other spiritual stuff and psychotherapy?!" and this simplicity and effort-free way to bliss is often advertised by Mooji as something positive. I lost all interest in the world and spent half of the day watching satsangs. I began to see some weirder things surrounding Moo, like the suicide of Flo Camoin in Monte Sahaja and how we were advised to keep quiet and not bring it up. I visited this thread many times, and would always leave thinking you guys were all just really identified with your egos. But something was growing inside of me, some skepticism. At one point I searched about how to know if you're in a cult, and everything matched. That was when I left.
I feel especially bad for Krishnabai, Omkara and all of his other early followers. They seem like such wonderful people and don't deserve what is happening to them. They have been with him for such a long time that I believe they can't even imagine walking away from Monte Sahaja and having a life outside of that place. It's a hole that sucks them in. They left family, study, job and friends to waste their youth with this dude. I imagine some thoughts may appear in them about leaving, but they must think that's "just the mind", after all, that's years of being conditioned to distrust their thoughts completely (Ironically, Moo calls this deconditioning). If any of you are reading this thread while inside Monte Sahaja, like I was, just know that there's a way out. It seems unimaginable to leave, but when you do, it will feel like being released from the prison. I also want to let you guys know that I think about you frequently.
Right now, it's just me and God on this path, no guru. The pointings that Moo shares are wonderful and life-changing, but somehow he and his followers confused things.
For me, it started getting weird during the 2017 Rishikesh season, when the Invitation technique was created. He started repeating himself and saying the same things over and over in every satsang. Somehow, people were getting totally blissed out from the Invitation, so he must've thought that this method was IT, despite all of the people having troubles and coming down from the high worse than before. He just kept sharing the Invitation, and putting the blame of its flaws in "the mind". People were sharing how the Invitation was coming short and Moo kept demonizing the mind. He somehow made people believe that there is a villain inside them that should be fought, and the disaster began. Now, most of satsang was spent talking about this apparent bad guy. I don't know if Mooji knew the consequences and issues that would arise out of this, and if he didn't, that's the proof that supposedly enlightened gurus can fuck up just like us.
Soon, The Invitation became a label and books were published about it. In Monte Sahaja, the team put the Invitation to Freedom video playing repeatedly in a room, so that people could watch it anytime and multiple times a day, indifferent to the unhealthiness of this. Every concern that his followers showed was blamed on the mind and the invitation kept being shared. I remember thinking about how it felt like a cult but dismissing that thought for coming from my "ego-mind". To some people (I was one of them), satsang became a drug. We went to satsang, felt bliss as Moo was speaking and telling his dozens of life stories (and telling us that he didn't want to hear our stories), then went home and crashed. Why? Because the invitation doesn't integrate you into the world and normal life. Moo told us constantly that we should refuse going out with friends and family to, instead, stay inside and listen to the invitation. I don't know what kind of spiritual teacher advises their students to run away from the world. To keep the bliss, you have to keep watching satsang and going to Monte Sahaja. He knows just what to say to make you feel special and spiritual. So we kept going and feeling wonderful, then coming back to the world and feeling disappointed. We were told "You're almost there, just one more satsang!", but it was never just one more. When the bliss of one satsang went away, we had to attend another one to recharge. It was the same experience as being addicted to drugs. I realized something was wrong when I began to notice that I was completely indifferent to the real world. I started to feel annoyed at other people and practices, because "the invitation is so simple and instant, why are people wasting time with other spiritual stuff and psychotherapy?!" and this simplicity and effort-free way to bliss is often advertised by Mooji as something positive. I lost all interest in the world and spent half of the day watching satsangs. I began to see some weirder things surrounding Moo, like the suicide of Flo Camoin in Monte Sahaja and how we were advised to keep quiet and not bring it up. I visited this thread many times, and would always leave thinking you guys were all just really identified with your egos. But something was growing inside of me, some skepticism. At one point I searched about how to know if you're in a cult, and everything matched. That was when I left.
I feel especially bad for Krishnabai, Omkara and all of his other early followers. They seem like such wonderful people and don't deserve what is happening to them. They have been with him for such a long time that I believe they can't even imagine walking away from Monte Sahaja and having a life outside of that place. It's a hole that sucks them in. They left family, study, job and friends to waste their youth with this dude. I imagine some thoughts may appear in them about leaving, but they must think that's "just the mind", after all, that's years of being conditioned to distrust their thoughts completely (Ironically, Moo calls this deconditioning). If any of you are reading this thread while inside Monte Sahaja, like I was, just know that there's a way out. It seems unimaginable to leave, but when you do, it will feel like being released from the prison. I also want to let you guys know that I think about you frequently.
Right now, it's just me and God on this path, no guru. The pointings that Moo shares are wonderful and life-changing, but somehow he and his followers confused things.